Volgende: Samenvatting Omhoog: Conclusions and recommendations Vorige: Suggestions for further research Inhoudsopgave
From this research effort it seems clear that increased matching of supply/offering and demand (i.e. a tighter integration of the supply chains), improved process control and increased flexibility of the processes all require increased information and knowledge sharing to such a level that only an open web of co-operating computer programs will be able to do the job. This open web of cooperating computer programs should be an implicit element of many research activities as it promises much better results than stand-alone developments.
The bcoWeb experiment itself is no solution, it is merely a finger pointing in the right direction. The next steps have to be taken by the BC industry, their clients (government, large facility owners), the suppliers, the service providers, the software vendors and the knowledge institutions.
The recommendation to all parties involved is to raise the required funding and set up the organisation11.3 to create a reasonable set of open BC Ontologies, each containing a few hundred objects, properties, units, relations and constraints. This effort should be large enough to create an initial bcoWeb that is rich enough for most current computer applications. As current applications are not yet really semantically rich, the required effort will be moderate, at least moderate considering what is at stake.
From that basis the software vendor community should be involved to provide an initial set of bcoWeb compliant instruments.
At the same time, the demand and supply side should organise and execute a number of pilot projects providing feedback to their management and to the developers. At that time the funding required for the extensions of the bcoWeb should, at least partly, come from the market, because at that time it should be clear that improved information and knowledge sharing and process control indeed helps to reduce cost of failure and leads to increased end-user value. By that time, it should also be clear that an explicitly open source bcoWeb is a very attractive subsidy and funding target.
As the transition of the BC industry involves more than information and knowledge sharing--it also involves cultural changes, legal aspects, financial and contractual aspects--the proposed development should be part of a larger effort, such as promoted by the Dutch Regieraad and PSIB.